Mammals
Wrinkle-Faced Bat
Centurio senex · also called wrinkle-faced bats
Deep folds crease its face into one of the strangest expressions in the bat world, and a male wrinkle-faced bat can pull a loose flap of skin up over it entirely like a mask, a genuinely odd behaviour still not fully explained by researchers.
Overview
The wrinkle-faced bat, Centurio senex, is a fruit-eating mammal native to rainforest habitat across a range extending from Mexico through Central America and into parts of northern South America. Its deeply wrinkled facial skin, males’ unexplained face-masking behaviour, and stocky, tailless build make it one of the most visually distinctive and behaviourally puzzling bats found anywhere in the Neotropics.
A face nobody has fully explained
Few bats anywhere look quite like the wrinkle-faced bat, and fewer still add a self-applied facial mask to the mix, a combination that has kept researchers debating the purpose behind one of the more genuinely strange faces in the animal kingdom.
Status
Least Concern, remaining present across suitable rainforest habitat throughout its range from Mexico through northern South America.
Wrinkle-Faced Bat: common questions
Why does the wrinkle-faced bat have such an unusual face?
This species has unusually deep folds and wrinkles across its face, a genuinely distinctive appearance that gives the species both its common name and one of the more unusual faces found among all bat species, though the evolutionary reason behind the wrinkling itself remains an open question.
Why do male wrinkle-faced bats cover their faces?
A male of this species has a loose flap of skin below the chin that can be pulled up to cover much of the face like a mask, a behaviour whose exact purpose remains debated, with researchers proposing possibilities such as scent gland concealment or social display.
What does the wrinkle-faced bat eat?
This species feeds primarily on soft, ripe fruit such as figs, occasionally supplemented with nectar located during nighttime foraging across the rainforest canopy it inhabits from Mexico through northern South America.
Is the wrinkle-faced bat commonly seen?
No, this species is considered relatively uncommon across much of its range, which has made direct observations and detailed behavioural study less frequent than for some more common Neotropical fruit bats.